Deploying new radio base stations can be complicated. However, the actual deployment in the field benefits from being as simple as possible, as the physical environment can be demanding and the detailed technical skill of the service technician performing the physical deployment can vary at best and can be very low at worst. There is also a desire to keep cost down and/or increase availability of manpower by using staff with as low skill and/or short training as possible.
Ericsson Review #2 2008 page 74 discloses a situation where a new site for a radio base station is introduced. It is shown how a large part of the configuration can be performed automatically. However, the actual installation requires an on-site installer entering initial data (for example, radio base station identity) and activating the self-configuring function. In other words, there are still some parameters that need to be manually configured on site to initialise the configuration process. Any such manual entry, no matter the extent of it, is a risk factor for human errors and requires input devices, should thus be avoided if possible.